1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing user-selected telephone ring tones.
2. Description of the Related Art
The audible alert that a wireless mobile telecommunication device (also referred to as “user equipment”), such as a cellular telephone handset, emits to alert a user when the device receives an incoming call is typically referred to as a ring tone. A ring tone can be as simple as a single monophonic or polyphonic sound or as complex as a segment of a song or other musical segment, or a segment of recorded voice. Many wireless mobile telecommunications network service providers offer their subscribers (i.e., users of the wireless mobile devices) a service that allows a subscriber to select ring tones and wirelessly download them from the network to the subscriber's cell phone or other wireless mobile device. In this manner, the subscriber can have the device play, for example, a segment of the subscriber's favorite song upon receiving an incoming call. An example of such a service is the MEdiaNet™ service available from Cingular Wireless.
Using the cell phone or other device to which the subscriber has downloaded ring tones, the subscriber can associate selected ring tones with selected telephone numbers or groups of numbers listed in the device's electronic address book, such that when the device receives a call from an associated telephone number it emits a ring tone that is distinct from the ring tone it emits when it receives a call from other telephone numbers. The MEdia Net™ service also includes an Answer Tone feature that allows a subscriber to replace the standard ringing sound or tone that a calling party normally hears while waiting for the subscriber to answer the phone with a customized Answer Tone. An Answer Tone can include anything that can be used as a ring tone, such as a segment of a song or other musical segment, or segment of spoken voice. The MEdia Net™ Answer Tone feature also allows a subscriber to associate selected Answer Tones with selected telephone numbers or number groups, in a manner similar to that in which a subscriber can associate selected ring tones with selected numbers. However, unlike a ring tone, which is stored in the form of a data file on the subscriber's cell phone, subscribers' Answer Tones are stored on Cingular Wireless servers.
Advances in wireless mobile telecommunications network technology are also facilitating the use of wireless mobile devices as portable audio listening devices through which subscribers can select and listen to songs. The music can be wirelessly delivered to the device in the form of so-called streaming digital audio or, alternatively, downloaded to the device in the form of a digital file. The term “streaming” is used to refer to a process of delivering the data at a rate similar to that at which it is being played, such that a subscriber can listen for an essentially indefinite period of time. The streaming technology makes possible a radio station-like service through which a subscriber can listen to continuous music that a selected “station” is transmitting. The term “playing (a data file or something representing a data file)” is used in the art to refer to the process of transforming a data file (e.g., through decompression, decoding, conversion, etc.) into a form in which it is output for the user to hear (or view, in the case of a video medium).
It is desirable to provide telecommunication service subscribers with substantial flexibility in customizing ring tones and similar features. The present invention provides a system and method that addresses the above-described problems and deficiencies in the manner described below.